...it's been a while and it's been a week since the race. Let's just take it from there.
There was a feeling after I ran Thunder Road in 2011, where it was a PR and it was kinda a breakthrough. I was thinking that there wasn't really a difference in how I felt running a time like that (2:44:50). I was still the same person, I felt as if I was the same runner. Not much had changed. That's kinda how I felt after this race. It was a much much much (let me add another one) much better race in the marathon. In fact, this is probably the second time that I have ever felt good running a marathon.
I was thinking back to that other good feeling after a marathon. One that I ran back in 2006. I went from running a 3:03 marathon to 2:49. One time I when my training wasn't so great, I wanted to see what was the secret to that success to run that time. I found my old training log and looked at it over, and was amazed to see what I was running that fall. There were a couple weeks where my IT Band acted up, and I ran a total of 30 miles. I didn't really run that much. I probably averaged somewhere in the high sixties. I also didn't do that many long runs. I think my longest run was somewhere in the 18 range. But it was that overall belief, that TRUE GRIT that got me to that race and was able to get me to run that time. And honestly that's what happened in Vermont.
It was about 5:45 in the morning on the day of the race. I was bored and was going to take a shower soon, but wanted to look at my log from the last time I ran this race. I was so confident during that time, that I was going to run a PR. I looked back at my log and was amazed. I looked at my mileage and the (lack of) workouts that I did. I wasn't in that great of shape, and had been fooling myself that I was going to run well. I was thinking that morning, I know that I have done a better job of training. Or had I...
TRAINING
I did an 18 week build up. It started in mid January. During that winter, it was cold. Like Really cold.
BRO YOU AREN'T GOING TO RUN IN THE POLAR VORTEX? GONNA GO ON A
TREADMILL BRO?
Yeah Bro I am a wus.
There were many morning where I would wake up, look at the weather, and go nope. Or I would go on a treadmill in my building.* And then it would snow. Like all the time. And when it snowed, the snow would last for days. So my ability to do workouts on Rock Creek became a no go. Even if 80% of the trail was cleared, that left 20% of ice. And I wasn't going to risk running a workout on ice and snow. So there were at least three weeks were I was unable to do a workout.
*One amusing treadmill story. The workout room in my apartment is on the top floor. To get on you need access to a key fob. I went to the room at 5:45am. It was dark and cold. I am not really expecting to see anyone in the community/fitness room. I go to the community room and wake up some dude. I am really scared. Oh man am I going to get robbed! (And am I saying that because of his race and that makes me raaaaaacist, maybe?). This guy asks me (please don't kill me!) to let him on the sixth floor. (Oh man!) I let him to the sixth floor and nothing happens. End of story.
Then I would run races. And man did I suck. I got beat by a guy running with his dog. Really I did. I ran a race where at about 100 meters, I knew this was not a good idea. I ran an ok ten miler, but then I ran Cherry Blossom, and that turned into a total bummer. I was hoping to run under 56 and ran just over 57. After that my hamstring was strained and I did easy running that week. And then I went to Charlotte for Spring Break. And that was it. I was going to defer to next year. Training over.
And for the next three weeks I trained for a 10k. That's what I did at the end of training for a marathon. Oh that 10k. It was teeerrrrribbbble. I knew at 2 miles, that I was going to have to grind it out. (SUCH TRUE GRIT). Confidence wasn't so high.
But during Spring Break, I was like "Man I'm feeling good. You know what? I'll train for a 10k, then shift up to the marathon, and see what happens".
/does not realize Spring Break is not working at all
My long runs were:
A) 22 miles that were terrible. It was raining hard, it was cold. I did not enjoy it at all.
B) 20 miles that were so defeating. It was about three weeks before the race. I should not have ran more than 4 miles, but determined to do this. I got to 10 and stopped at a water fountain. I looked at a map, and was wondering if I continued in the direction I was going would I make it back to my apartment in under 20? Nope! I ran back. I stopped to get water at 12. I stopped to cool myself off at the waterfront at 14. It was not fun. But at no point did I flat out stop and walk. I kinda felt, this is like the race. Man up, dawg!
For the entire month of May, let's just say once a weekend...I really took it up another notch in the terms of enjoying myself. Which would leave to wonderful morning runs of feeling like death. Workouts on the weekend. OH I DOUBT IT.
With that all being said, I figured that I could run anywhere from 2:35 to 2:45.
/THAT'S SOME TRUE GRIT CONFIDENCE
I had done a lot of tempo runs at 6 to 6:10 pace. Mile repeats with 1 minute rest at 5:45 to 6 minutes. Yep that's what I had.
THE TRIP
My little friends that I teach, did not behave themselves during art class when I was away, so I left the school in a sour mood. I walked to my apartment to get my stuff, then go to the airport. As I am walking in the hall, I see a woman laying down on the ground. Not passed out. Not saying anything. Just laying down. She was in scrubs or daycare scrubs. Ok, I say to myself. I get my stuff and go. She is now laying down, going to sleep. Like this is something that happens all the time. PETWORTH FTW. Over the trip I am worried about my apartment being broken in.
I get to Reagan with no problems. Check in. No problems. Get some warm yogurt and granola, no problem. Wait for my plane. The plane I am on is one of those tiny 13 row plane. We have to take a bus to get to our plane. I get to my seat and this woman that was sitting next to me, leaves. Oh yeah I get the back to myself and can stretch out. But someone else comes and I have to share my row.
Get to Vermont and take a taxi to my hotel. Check in and find that I am in the club level. KING OF THE CASTLE! I go to my room and go to the club lounge and eat the finger foods for dinner. I make small talk with the woman that is working there, and am thinking...well...no...save it for the race dawg!
I watch Tower Heist and go to bed.
I wake up early on Saturday, and try to remember the greenway that Jordan and I ran on the last time I was here. I ended up getting kinda lost, but find it. I'm having a good time and I think Joan Benoit Samuleson was running ahead of me there, I'm not sure. I really didn't care all that much. I did 2 miles out and go back to the hotel.
I eat a BIG BREAKFAST at the club level and then come back to my room and work on lesson plans. TRUE WORKING CLASS GRIT. After getting my stuff at the expo and buying some chop blocks, I look to see what I could get for lunch. Without a car, I walk to the nearest supermarket. I pass a Trader Joe's on my walk and go in. ** I walk around and immediately realize this is to smug and not how I roll. I leave. I walk a bit more to Hannifords, buy a sandwich, get some stuff for breakfast and walk back to my hotel.
**When I was in Charlotte when the Trader Joe's first opened near McMullen, I went into it after running on the trail. I wanted to buy a sports drink. I walked around for some time, then yelled out loud WHERE IS THE REGULAR FOOD. Then left and got something at CVS. I do not have a sophisticated palate.
I eat lunch and watch the Champions League final. Went to the club lounge to get some finger foods. I watched the local news. NOT UP TO MY LOFTY ELITE DC STANDARDS. I ordered room service, and ate a good burger and fries. Watched some basketball and went to bed around 9:30.
On Sunday I woke up before my alarm at 5:25. I forgot about Vermont in the morning. It's literally daylight at 5:15. Oh did I oversleep? No I did not. But this is freaking me out.
I eat my bagel and drink some water. Eat a little bar, and get on the shuttle bus around 6:30. Who comes right after that is Aaron. We had talked about running together. Anything from 6:10 to 6:15. We talk about maybe low 6's. Uh not where I am. 6:10-6:15 sounds good for me.
It's probably 7:35 and I go to the bathroom. I see that the lines are about a mile long (est. not 100% accurate). I now have told my internal system that it's a cold brown, so I have to go. I see that it's 7:40, 7:45. Not good. At 7:48 (maybe) I get to the bathroom, and take my time. I get done, rapidly check my bad, and do my warm up to get to the start line. I feel good. I have my chomp blocks, and now get to the start line. I see Aaron and it's go time.
The Race
As we start, I have the overwhelming confidence that I am going to run well. But I am going to run my race. So as Aaron and Meagan run ahead, I check my garmin and see 6:10 pace. That sounds good, it feels good. Now during the first part of the first mile, I think do I want to go run with the lead female pack. I can do that, but I would be spending a lot of energy to get there. It would be great to run with someone during the race. But I don't feel like doing that. I click off 6:10 and then for the second mile is 6:07.
My plan for the chomp blocks was to take 1 every 4 miles. I broke it down that I would take 6. Drink water or gatorade before or after taking the block. Take the race in 4 mile intervals and I would be good to go.
We run back into Main Street, I see Jordan call me out and give him a thumbs up. I am feeling fine. We then run onto the desolate road where there are hardly any fans. I end up running with some guys at this point. We talk about what we want to run. I say 6:10 pace sounds good. They say the same thing. Then they talk about how humid it is. Now these guys were from upstate New York (Syracuse?) or Vermont. Now I'm from the South and live in DC. I thought the day was a great day for late May. Usually late May was Summer. And the humidity these guys were talking about. Ok, there might be some, but I couldn't tell. I chid them. SOUTHERN HILLBILLY MOCKS YANKEE RUNNERS
After getting some water, we start to slow down and I make the decision to pick it up. We were going like 6:15. Those guys don't stay with me. At the turnaround, I see Aaron and Meagan passing me. I give out encouragements. I go through the 10k at 38:55. About 50 seconds slower than last time. But that race I stopped to do my business twice.
It's at mile 8 where I don't feel good. I'm running into the wind and I'm not feeling great. Uhhh. Is what I'm thinking, I have 18 more miles to go. I feel like I do at mile 18. My other plan was to run a 20 mile warm up and then go the last 10k. But right now the feeling is not great. I'm thinking that it might be a good decision to drop out. Yep. That's right.
I get back to the city and here we run through the little open mall/restaurant area. I then think back to the song that I have been playing to pump me up. "I still believe" by Frank Turner. I sing the parts of the song that I know. And in that moment it changed. The entire race changed. I felt a lot better. I come up to mile 10 and I realize that man, I really don't feel tired at all. I feel really good. I feel fine. I start to realize that I shouldn't be holding back that much. It's time to go. I run with a guy, but he doesn't hang with me. Then I start to think, I'm that guy in the race who comes by and is barreling. I am the person that is running strong and smart.
I start running like this and it's at this point that I see Aaron. I figured that I would catch up to his group at 20, but then realize that it's probably going to be 15. The only hiccup in the race came when my shoe became untied, and I stopped to tie it. That was my slowest mile at 6:20. I hit the half at 1:21 something I am rolling and we get to a little path that goes by the lake, and I realize that I am going to pass Aaron. Maybe talk some trash, but when I get a clear view of his stride, I realize ummm I think positive encouragement are needed.
I then know what is ahead of me. The big hill is coming. I run up the hill and see the second place woman. I also see Jordan about to take a picture. Well this would be a perfect time to photo bomb. I come up on the side, because I was going to pass and try to flash the west side. But I totally do a terrible job. Earning the title of whitest man in America.
After that hill, I wasn't tired and in fact was rolling. At 18 I drop a 5:59 my fastest mile. I tell myself to slow down, and maybe that was a mistake. But I was worried that I get to 20 and the bottom drops. It's at this point where we are running on a straight road, and it's hard to maintain focus, because this is boring, but I power on. I give high fives, smiles when to volunteers. I get to bike path and see a guy and the first place female. To go on the bike path there is a small downhill. I could charge it and pass both, but take it easy. Do I really want to blow up my quads here? No I don't.
At 20 I didn't feel bad, but I could tell that things could be coming, but I could hold it off. On the bike path, it really reminded me of McMullen. But the last part of the park, which isn't that exciting and really boring. I pass the first place female at 22, and I tell her "good job" and she says "ok". I realize she doesn't speak English. She then starts to pace off me. NO FREE RIDES MISS. I drop her and pass two other guys. At 24 I take my last block. I was planning on holding the bag and then throwing it in the crowd when I finish. But I soon realize that I want this race to be over. I'm not really enjoying the race. I'm still on 6:05 pace, but I'm still to be done. I run and I see that the course is straight. I can see forever. I'm about what a half mile to the finish and someone blazes by me. Oh great. I really eased up? It was a relay runner. There was one point where I thought, if I run a sub 18 last 5k I can maybe break 2:40. That's not going to happen. I get to mile 26 and am smiling. I make the last turn and run on the grass. I'm not going to sprint, because I'll be under 2:42 with ease. I am happy. This is great. I finish with a time of 2:41:30. I have no idea what place I was in.
Then this happens:
GUY: How old are you?
Me: 31.
GUY: Oh I thought you were a Master's runner.
I get my medal, plastic thing, and some water. I drink the water, but it taste like metal. I probably am not feeling good. I talk to Meagan. I ask her how she did, even though she dropped out. I didn't want to go, yeah I say you walking cause you dropped out hahahahaha. I'm more polite.
I don't feel that great and go to the bathroom, and that's when I realize I don't feel great. I walk around and go to the bathroom again. And that's when I decide to not be a hero and get a ride back to the medical tent. I feel like death and look like it. I get something in my arm that makes me feel better. I drink some gatorade and eat some oranges. I feel a lot better. A volunteer got my bags and check on my phone to see how I did. 14th overall. Wow!
I feel better. Leave the medical tent and go on a bus back to the hotel.
The night ended with me going out and not drinking that much
AFTERMATH
Well let's look at the stats:
1/2 Marathon 28th place
20 Miles 18th place
Finish: 14th place
Got faster as the race went on. First 10k- 38:55. Final 10k- 38:05
I couldn't fall asleep during the day. It was weird. I didn't feel all that great, but I couldn't sleep. This wasn't my best race, but it was my smartest race. I felt good, but at the same time wasn't so sure if I want to run another marathon again. Like ever. I know what I need to do to go into that extra gear to run fast. But is that something I want to do? If I were to run another one, it would have to fit into my work schedule. To be honest, I'm not going to miss a day of school to run a race. Running isn't that important to me, to miss a day of work.
On Monday, I ran the same trail I did on Saturday. After the run I was looking at the Green Mountains that were in the distance. I was thinking this, you know this is probably the last time I am up here.
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